I was lying on a steel stretcher while the docs put in an arterial line and an epidural so they could deliver our son. After a bit of a wait, due to the sudden number of babies needing delivered, our son was born at 00:15 on 10/2/03. Allan weighed just 2 lbs 6 oz and was 15 inches long. He Apgar was 2. I'm told he cried but I don't remember from the mag. He was immediately intubated and whisked off to the NICU. He was 28 weeks gestation. I had severe PE with a BP of 250/150.

I was sent to the maternal critical care area where I would spend the next two days on Mag (awful stuff). It would be 3 days before I was well enough to take a wheel chair ride to go see my son. 96 days later, after many complications, he came home.

His birthday is in a few hours. He's a tall skinny kid, hard-headed as the day is long and too smart for his own good. I thank God for getting us through those rough times. There were several very scary days when we all thought he would never come home.